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I'll add our pick & roll defense was atrocious tonight... that's pretty much all Prigioni knows how to run anyways, and we just sucked
ing re ed MSG waitress interfering with the game - SA should send an insurance bill to the Knicks.
I'll add our pick & roll defense was atrocious tonight... that's pretty much all Prigioni knows how to run anyways, and we just sucked
Without Jackson we don't have any other choice. Leonard saw a lot of time on the court and had to rest at some point.
Is that what it was? Ridiculous
Ginobili's a better option at the 3 than Green.
But he doesn't. Kid is 21... if there's a player you can run for 40 mins out there, that's Kahwi.... obviously, it could be he's not in tip top shape yet after the injury, but minutes should be the least of the concerns with Kawhi.
Part of Spurs culture that Spurs players were born tired, a built-in excuse.
It's not about how much he scored, it's about how many open threes he generated/this strategy conceded and about how much more energy that sapped from an already tired team.
Despite what the score may have said throughout more than half the game, the Spurs were never in this game. It was clear from damn near the jump that one solid stretch by the Knicks would put it away.
timvp, given the situation (4-in-5, playing a good team, not having more than a day off upcoming to fully recover) and how obsessed he is with rest to begin with, I doubt he'd have had them practically running suicides just for the of it.
More than likely, there is no trade imminent . . . but if there is, I'm predicting Blair/Joseph for Ayon/Smith. Haven't heard anything, just a random thought/prediction.
Hmm, well Leonard had played 27 minutes when he came out in the 3rd with 1:29 left. It would have been a lot to ask him to guard Melo for the entire 2nd half, if the bench had kept it close in the opening minutes of the 4th and we had a chance in the game he would have played close to 38 minutes by leaving in the 3rd and coming back when he did in the 4th.
To keep him in all 2nd half, he'd have to play 42 minutes. In hindsight maybe he could, but it's not a terrible decision to rest him a few minutes either side of the quarter.
The fatigue factor is real, not only because the Spurs stars are generally older, but also because the Spurs have had a pretty brutal schedule so far. Look at the other teams:
Games played:
OKC - 31 games
Clippers - 33 games
Spurs - 35 games
Memphis - 29 games
Miami - 30 games
Knicks - 32 games
Atlanta - 30 games
It's crazy the Spurs already played 6 more games than Memphis in the same amount of time.
kawhi cant play 40? okc plays their starters 40 on a nightly basis
Melo played 36 mins... play him when Melo plays... If Melo ends up playing 40, there's no reason Kawhi can't play 40... the problem is that Green can't guard Melo (and a lot of other people). I mean, Kawhi probably can't guard Melo successfully all the time either, but he's likely the best guy we have to throw at him.
It's not about playing 40, it's about playing an unplanned 40 due to Jacksons injury (meaning a 24 minute second half) on the end of a 4-in-5, after averaging only 26 min/game all season and only recently coming off an injury.
I don't see any mystery as to when this game slipped through the Spurs fingers. It wasn't a whole game failure. The game was lost from the 2nd half of the third quarter on. During this period Neal and Diaw had their heads in their asses, Manu disappeared, Bonner couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and Blair didn't help a damn bit(lol). Oh, and Tiago got schooled in the low post. It's also tiresome seeing everyone use "the big three needed to be rested" as a blanket excuse every time the Spurs lose.
you're exaggerating. if anything Ive been surprised that he has adapted quite well IMO. He runs the offense and despite not having an NBA body is disruptive on D, for a 3rd string pg he's good, for a backup he is decent. IMO he fits the jacque vaughn mold well- few mistakes, steady, knows his job, not a liability on either end of the court. easily worth his contract; if I thought pop would play him, i'd rather have him than mills or joseph when neal's shot is MIA.
the spurs desperatly need a back up pg ...... its time to call up cojo & send de colo too d league ..... cojo is a true natural pg
If you're telling me he's a good 3rd string PG, then you're saying what I said: He's a borderline NBA player. Don't know many of those that drop 9 dimes, 3 steals and 0 turnovers. Fact is, he's averaging 2.8 assists/game. When he gets 3x as much, something else is going on.
I just rewatched the game and found 3 things:
1. The Knicks brought their A+ game. Like many teams do, they wanted to beat the Spurs and brought playoff type intensity. Nothing shows that more than the play of Prigioni and the alley oop reverse dunk by JR Smith. They wanted this one more, no doubt about it.
2. The Knicks shot well. And the Spurs didn't read or didn't have a good scouting report on the Knicks. They are an outstanding three point shooting team and cannot be left open. So what happened? Guys like Novak were left wide open on several occasions while doubling on guys like Prigioni. That's a recipe for a loss.
3. The Spurs didn't being their A game. This Knicks team has the weapons to challenge the Heat in the LEast. They are legit and if the Spurs are to beat them, they (and their role players) need to play hard and smart, and have the engine running on all cylinders. And still, it would be a game.
4. Speaking of Prigioni, he and Kidd are Exactly what this Knicks team needs: veteran leadership and unselfish PG play. I can't wait until Shumpert and Felton come back, because like Westbrick, they make their teams worse, not better. Prigioni and his veteran (albeit scrub) leadership running the show make the Knicks offense run smoother. Like that scrub playing alongside Allen Iverson all those years, I forget his name.
So you're saying he's on the drugs.
Pretty much, tbh
Agreed. If I see any more Neal running backup PG, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
(Probably nothing, but still. Select a new backup PG please, Pop.)
You can blame it on fatigue, but the Spurs dealt with fatigue just fine last year. No, this team just struggles against elite compe ion. They lost twice to the Knicks, twice to the Clippers, beat Memphis but had to come from 14 down in the final quarter to do so, split with OKC thanks to Parker's heroics, split with Portland, but needed a monster 4th quarter in the first meeting and beat the Lakers in a very sloppy affair thanks to Green's heroics. They're already relying to heavily on the big three this year as opposed to last year and the depth just isn't very consistent right now.
Neal isn't a bad player, but he's a bad point guard. It's just the way it is. He jacks up a lot of heroes, which is okay. He's a good shooter and that's his thing. He's a volume shooter. However, we don't need a volume shooter playing point guard. That's not going to work. We need someone that can take care of the basketball and make plays for others. In my opinion, Nando, with some work, is that guy. I don't have a problem with Neal getting some minutes at the 2. He's okay there, even though he's not been very good this season, but he should not in any way, shape, or form play backup point guard. There's really only two point guards on this team and those are Tony and Nando. Shouldn't they get the nod at PG?
Bruce Bowen used to play a lot of minutes even into his thirties. How in the heck can a 21 year old not even play 30-35 on a consistent basis? What is Pop smoking. You don't need to rest Kawhi, you need to play him because he still has a lot to improve upon. He's not going to improve his weakest areas sitting on the bench.
I'd say Spurs need to put quite a few players on the trade block. We've got too many players that are taking up roster spots that don't really contribute much.
Spurs need to get a backup SF and a backup PF/C. The exact same things that they needed before the season started, they need now. Why these holes have still not been addressed is beyond me. Piss poor roster management from the alleged drunk driver RC Buford.
Last edited by Ice009; 01-04-2013 at 02:03 AM.
Couldn't agree more, KY not playing these kind of minutes show that there's something wrong with Pop's rotations and his way of thinking, for some reason he's obsessed with depth and midgets, none of these things are known to really help win championships...
Trade Sjax the tosb, a likable tosb but a tosb none the less for a big, we're trying to win a championship here... or are we... We need another big even if we have to take back a bad contract to get it, who cares, it's all about now. Besides the bad contract wouldn't translate in a free agent signing in the off season since we'd have to resigning Sjax if we don't trade him now, so really it doesn't matter.
Choose a backup PG who can handle full court pressure, be it Joseph if Pop wants Manu to remain in the second unit no matter what... And pack some of the other midgets with Sjax.
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